Mosque dispute has life after trial

A federal court jury put to rest a lawsuit involving a proposed mosque in Palos Heights last week, but the verdict has not totally silenced the controversy.

The unfavorable publicity Palos Heights received during the debate in 2000 may have abated, especially because the jury found officials did not violate the Muslim foundation's freedom of religion. But that doesn't mean former politicians, residents and local observers agree on what actually happened when the plan to buy a church and convert it to a mosque fell apart.

Some residents still say the opposition to the mosque was justified because of traffic concerns on Friday afternoons, when the foundation would have held services. Others said a desire to turn the property into a recreation center was real.

But the foundation's lawyer continues to insist discrimination was behind the dispute.

"I'm still very disappointed," said attorney Greg Kulis, who represented the Al Salam Mosque Foundation. "I think the actions of the community as a whole and the City Council spoke five years ago [about] what they thought. It's very easy for people to look back now and say, `Oh, it wasn't that bad.'"

In 2000, when the foundation sought to buy the Reformed Church of Palos Heights, members wanted assurances from the city that they could operate a mosque--confirmation they said they never received.

Hundreds of residents showed up at city meetings. The City Council later offered to pay the group $200,000 to abandon the deal so the city could buy the property, a move that witnesses at the trial said was spearheaded by Aldermen Julie Corsi and Jim Murphy.

In the end, the mosque did not buy the church, blaming the city for thwarting the deal. City attorneys successfully argued at trial that the foundation could have proceeded without the city's approval.

Now, the church has changed hands. In March, the Life Church of Chicagoland quietly bought the sanctuary, offices and classrooms for $2 million, slightly less than what the foundation agreed to pay.

A Life Church official said this week that the space was everything the growing congregation of about 120 members wanted.

As for the dispute with the mosque, Mike Ryan, a member of Life Church's executive council, said he believed mosque leaders were raising issues to get out of the contract.

Others in Palos Heights contend the media distorted the story. Resident Arlene Busch said many residents wanted to buy the church for years but claimed former Mayor Dean Koldenhoven opposed the move. A city official said buying and renovating the church would be too costly.

Busch also disputes perceptions of tense meetings, saying the media went overboard suggesting there was a racist overtone to complaints. She said she only once heard anything derogatory directed at mosque members.

"There was no demonstrations, no violence, no yelling, no nothing," she said.

Koldenhoven said he did not try to stop residents from making negative comments because they have freedom of speech. As for trying to bring an often-fractious City Council together, he said that was impossible.

"I can't control their hearts, minds and what they say," Koldenhoven said of his opponents.

But even supporters of Koldenhoven's eventual decision not to buy out the mosque's contract for $200,000 acknowledged residents did not deal with the situation correctly, leaving themselves open to charges of discrimination.

Girten said she believed the church was a bad location for a mosque because of the traffic, and she wanted to help the mosque find other locations in town.

Her pastor at St. Alexander Catholic Church in Palos Heights said he did not put much stock in traffic concerns because the Reformed Church also had hundreds of members.

Rev. Edward Cronin said he preached about tolerance at that time, telling his parishioners that to exclude anyone was a sin. Trying to look for a positive impact from the controversy, though, Cronin said he is happy more people are involved with interfaith dialogue and social justice causes.

Omar Najib, a Muslim who attends the mosque in Bridgeview and who helped organize interfaith discussions as a result of the controversy, expressed relief that the lawsuit is over. He said he was ambivalent about the suit because the entire city would have been accountable for the actions of some people.

"But I think the city has to do a better job in trying to calm the prejudiced statements that come out of certain individuals," he said.